attain

== English == === Etymology === The verb is derived from Middle English atteinen, atteynen (“to achieve, attain; to be adequate or sufficient; to affect; to come or get to (a place), reach; to corrupt, taint; to overcome, overpower; to overtake; to succeed; to tamper with; (law) to bring to justice, punish”), from ataign-, a stem of Anglo-Norman ataindre, and Old French ataindre, attaindre (“to reach”) (modern French atteindre), from Vulgar Latin *attangere, from Latin attingere, the present active infinitive of attingō (“to come into contact with, touch; to affect; to arrive at, reach; etc.”), from ad- (prefix indicating a nearing or reaching) (appearing as at- due to assimilation with the following t, inducing gemination) + tangō (“to grasp, touch; to arrive at, reach; to attain; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to grasp; to touch”)). Doublet of attainder and attinge. The noun is derived from the verb. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /əˈteɪn/ Rhymes: -eɪn Hyphenation: at‧tain === Verb === attain (third-person singular simple present attains, present participle attaining, simple past and past participle attained) (transitive) To come to or reach (a place) by motion or progression. (figurative) To arrive at (a certain age or time, condition or state, etc.); to reach. To gain (a desired result or other objective) through effort; to accomplish, to achieve. Synonyms: arrive at, get, reach; see also Thesaurus:achieve (archaic) To gain possession of (something tangible or intangible) through effort; to acquire, to obtain. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:acquire (obsolete) To reach (someone) after being behind them. Synonyms: catch up with, overtake (figurative) To find out (information, knowledge, etc.); to ascertain, to get at. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:discover (intransitive) Often followed by to. (archaic) To come to or reach a place by motion or progression; to reach. (figurative) To arrive at a certain condition or state, etc. To gain possession of something tangible or intangible through effort. (obsolete) To come to or reach a position without moving from one place to another. To extend or reach from one position to another; to stretch. (figurative) To find out information, knowledge, etc. To gain a desired result or other objective through effort. Of a person: to live to a certain age or time. Of a thing: to befall, to happen to someone. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== attainder attaint attainture ==== Translations ==== === Noun === attain (plural attains) (dated or archaic) Synonym of attainment. An act of arriving at or reaching; an act of obtaining by effort. That which is obtained by effort. ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === attainment (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia === Anagrams === Anitta